Blooming cactus is a real miracle. He is able to cause a storm of emotions in the beginning gardener and make him believe in himself. Indeed, in order to see a flowering cactus, you need to make a lot of effort and effort. These outlandish plants may feel good in your home, but stubbornly refuse to bloom. Let's find out why this happens and how you can influence the situation.
Flowering cacti: photos and varieties
In their homeland, these plants reach maturity at a certain age. Often by this time, the cactus is already quite large. Column-shaped varieties are easily cultivated from seeds, and they are easy to care for at home. But they should not expect the appearance of buds. Those cacti that can bloom in room conditions most often require special light and heat. The cuttings of acclimatized prickly pear brought from the Mediterranean countries can successfully develop into a large plant. But they bloom only under particularly favorable conditions. The same applies to trichocereus - their children can easily adapt to almost any environment, grow in rooms of amateurs with whole curtains.
But a blooming cactus of this kind is rarely seen - for this it must reach impressive size, receive balanced nutrition. Rebuts can bloom in the second year, and notocactus and mamillaria - only in the fourth. Trichocereus and ferocactus can please their owner with flowering no earlier than fifteen years after planting. Different instances of the same species may also behave differently. Poorly flowering individuals willingly throw out side shoots (children). They are convenient to
propagate the cactus. But in this way it is rarely flowering plants that can spread widely. Often this happens with a cactus such as echinopsis.
Care and padding
Rebutia, echinopsis, notocactus, mamillaria - all these species bloom profusely in the room. If this does not happen, you should analyze the errors in caring for them. The most common of them is a violation of the dormant period of the plant. Blooming cactus forms buds only in conditions of cool keeping and almost complete absence of watering in winter. In the spring, having noticed the buds of a plant, you do not have to rush to begin to intensively water it. Wait until the kidneys are clearly visible. The fact is that rapid vegetative growth due to intensive watering can interfere with the development of buds. They must reach a certain size. After that, moisture can be introduced into the soil in sufficient quantities. You also need to feed the cactus.
How much does this plant bloom?
Depends on the species. Instances with a daily form of flowering are about three days. Sometimes from one day to a week. Also, the duration of flowering is affected by illumination. On cloudy days, buds often remain closed. Cacti blooming at night do not depend on the presence of light. They can bloom in complete darkness. But such flowers are more short-lived - they are open no more than two days.